02 April 2021 - No 10's racial disparity report
Race report: 'UK not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities'
(BBC News, 01/04/2021)
The UK "no longer" has a system rigged against people from ethnic minorities, a review set up by No 10 says.
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said family structure and social class had a bigger impact than race on how people's lives turned out.
It said children from minority ethnic communities did as well or better than white pupils, but overt racism remained, particularly online.
Race commission report: the rights and wrongs
Raminder Kaur and Gill Margaret Hague (The Conversation, 01/04/2021)
Confusion and outrage greeted the UK government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report. As opponents grapple with some of the more alarming findings, such as its assertion that there is little evidence of institutional racism in the UK, critiques and questions about the validity of its claims have begun to circulate widely on social media.
So, what does the report get wrong about racism in the UK, and does it get anything right?
Boris Johnson's Most Senior Black Adviser Samuel Kasumu Quits
Ned Simons (The Huffington Post, 01/02/2021)
Downing Street’s most senior Black adviser has resigned amid a backlash over the government’s report into racism in the UK, it has been reported.
Samuel Kasumu, Boris Johnson’s adviser on ethnic minorities, quit on Tuesday morning, POLITICO first reported.
The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which was set up after Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests across the country last summer – triggered by the killing of George Floyd in the US – argued Britain is no longer a country where the “system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities”.
What Is The Difference Between Institutional and Structural Racism?
Ellie Abraham (The Independent, 01/04/2021)
A report by the independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, released on 31 March, concluded that although racism and instances of racial injustice still exist in the UK, “we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities”.
The controversial report has sparked nationwide conversations, especially against the claim that there is “no evidence of institutional racism” and that, although the UK is not a “post-racial society”, it sets a good example for other white-majority countries when it comes to diversity.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show on Wednesday, the commission’s chairman Dr Tony Sewell claimed there was no evidence of institutional racism in the UK and that the phrase is wrongly used.